Page 32 - Seniorstoday February 2023 Issue

Alaimentary
Plinth, Pillars and Roof
Life is like a home, metaphorically speaking, writes Nagesh Alai. The
plinth, the pillars and the roof help us sail and swim the currents of our
lives with our heads held high
Nothing to beat a story with a lesson
in it. After all, many of us, if not most,
have grown up listening to stories. Here
are a few simple life stories that will be
interesting to read as it involves human
thinking and behaviour and the role
that others play in our lives in different
situations.
There were three close friends who
wanted to start a business. But they were
from different backgrounds and financially
inequal. Each had some strengths and
they were confident that they would be
able to work together synergistically. They
needed a significant capital in those days.
One of them could contribute Rs 5 lakh, the
second one Rs 3 lakh and the third one was
in no position to contribute anything at all
for various reasons. Since they were close
friends, the contributing friends did not
have any reservations moving ahead with
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the project in equal partnership with each
getting one-third share in the business
and profits. The fact is that the initial seed
capital of Rs 8 lakh is not exactly divisible
by 3. So, an exact three-way division would
be possible only by multiplying 5 and 3
by a factor of 3, leading to 15 + 9 = 24, and
using that as the base to determine each’s
share of contributions and distribution of
profits in equal proportion of 8, 8 and 8.
Over the following years, the business
did well consistently and the value of
the business grew quite substantially; in
excess of 1,000 times of the seed capital
of Rs 8 lakh put in. The third person who
had not contributed anything at all in
the beginning, due to his then indigent
situation, had grown wealthy in tandem
with the growth in the business, along
with his two other friends, who had been
munificent towards him. Not only that, as